Not sure what relevance that game has with this season. These are different players and it is a different team.

I am no Ohio State fan, but I truly believe that they are the best team in the country, at the moment. Illinois historically gives them problems. That was no surprise.

What did surprise me was the way that they handled Miami. I still think the Hurricanes are pretty good and Ohio State made them look like a Division I-AA team.

Alabama's offense is good, but their defense isn't even close to what it was last year.

I wasn't talking about them and that game in reference to this season or anything to do with it. I was just having a side convo with Power.

Alabama's defense isn't as good as last year's but their offense is better and even more dynamic. Couple that with a defense, that while young and inexperienced, is still very talented and is continuing to get better and better with each and every game.

Ohio State's resume comes nowhere close to Alabama's resume this season, and I can't see how anyone can say they are truly the best team in the nation with a straight face.

Alabama has a road win over top 10 Arkansas, made top 10 Florida look like a 1-AA team, and did the same to Penn St. I know it's Duke, but they made Duke look like a bad 1-AA team.

Ohio St., so far on the year, has three blowout wins over Marshall, Ohio, and Eastern Michigan. Alabama has blowout wins over Florida, Penn St., and Duke. Tell me which one of those is more impressive?

Ohio St. did make Miami look pretty average, but despite forcing four turnovers, they still only won by 12 at home. If Jacory Harris makes better reads on one or two of those picks, then we might be talking about a completely different ball game. I know for sure one of the INT's was in the endzone.

Alabama has struggled with Arkansas in the past, so if we're going to make that claim about Ohio St. against Illinois, then it's valid for Alabama against Arkansas. Except there's one big difference between those two games this year...Arkansas is a very good team who is a legit top 10-15 team and Alabama "struggled" with them AT Arkansas. Illinois is unranked (wins over N. Illinois and S. Illinois) and Ohio St. struggled with them in the Horseshoe.

So, actually, when you break it down, Ohio State's resume doesn't even sniff Alabama's resume this year. In fact, when you break down schedules, scores, etc. it makes Ohio St. look even further behind Alabama.

That doesn't mean I don't think they are the second best team, but no one can convince me right now that they are the best team in the nation.

Illinois is unranked (wins over N. Illinois and S. Illinois) and Ohio St. struggled with them in the Horseshoe.

I don't like defending Ohio State, but the game was in Champaign, and like RBA said, Illinois has usually played Ohio State tough regardless of ranking. Hell, they beat them in 2007 when OSU was #1. I also think this Illinois team is much improved from last year should be able to get 6 wins this season.

Also, if you watched the game, Ohio State played the most conservative game I've ever seen. I think they could have won by more, but it was windy and they just didn't take any risks. Illinois had their chances, but silly mistakes ended up costing them, along with a questionable penalty and a questionable spot on an Ohio State 4th down conversion.

All that said, Alabama is the best team in the country, and I think they would handle Ohio State.

kg,
I wasn't basing Ohio State being the best team in the country on their resume. I was basing it on watching them and the other top teams in the nation and believing that they are the best team.

I've watched Alabama twice this year... Penn State and Florida. They looked OK against Penn State. Honestly, I didn't think that it was a great performance by any means. PSU is really down this year. Their ranking going into the Alabama game was based purely on success they have had over the past few years.

They are probably somewhere in the bottom half of the Big Ten. I would put them behind Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and probably Purdue and Illinois.

All of that said, PSU actually put up a good fight against Alabama. It was 7-0 at halftime and 'only' 17-0 in the 4th quarter. Considering Penn State threw something like three interceptions and had an unforced lost fumble, that was a relatively unimpressive 24-3 win for 'Bama.

Obviously, they looked great against Florida, but I also don't think that UF is anything to write home about this year... Nor do I think that the SEC is even close to as good as it has been over the last 4-5 years.

There is little doubt who has played the tougher schedule to date, but I just think Ohio State is the more complete team. That isn't to say that they deserve to be ranked No.1. I don't think they do... Alabama has earned their spot with quality wins.

But, I would favor OSU if the teams were to face-off right now.

Btw, despite the relatively close score against Miami, Ohio State totally dominated them. The only reason that Miami was in the game was getting a kickoff return for a TD and a punt return for a TD.

Ohio State was having a very easy time going up and down the field on Miami while the Hurricanes were really struggling completing anything except dink-and-dunk passes... And their running game was a non-factor.

For some reason I thought the OSU/Illinios game was at Ohio St. My bad on that one.

I don't think Alabama is head and shoulders above Ohio St., but once you start breaking down resumes and everything, Alabama has the upper hand. Alabama also didn't have Ingram against Ohio St. FWIW.

I do agree about Penn St. not being a top 25 team. Hell, I don't even think they're a top 50 team right now. Florida is/was a top 20 team masquerading as a top 10 team and finally got exposed last night, but Alabama was still very impressive in beating them like they werea bottom feeder SEC team. I would have Alabama 1, Ohio St. 2, then a bit of a gap, Oregon 3, and another gap to the next group.

The fact that he's putting a 41-14 ass whooping and 38-24 loss in the same level of disappointment is atrocious. It's not even about the score, Florida raped us. Offensively, Defensively, Ginn was out after running it back, the whole night was a disaster.

The fact that you're reading something into my statement that I never said isn't too great either. No, LSU didn't kick Ohio State's ass as badly as FL did, the only won by two touchdowns. It was "merely" a beating.

But regardless of that oh-so-impressive 14-point loss I have no faith in State's ability to handle the athletes and speed of the SEC elite. Bama's physical lines would push them around and they'd end up getting destroyed. Terrelle Pryor does nothing Troy Smith didn't do before him, and the Gators solved Smith easily enough.

Alabama's offense is good, but their defense isn't even close to what it was last year.

Good call. Alabama can be victimized by a team with a solid, drop-back passing attack. Arkansas, a team with lots of holes, almost did the trick.

Florida has the personnel, but they're trying to make Brantley fit into a system that doesn't cater to his skill set. He's not Tebow 2. Bamas too fast up front to try and move them around. You're better off playing them pro style.

South Carolina has the system, but I don't like their QB. Too inconsistent.

Likely won't happen in the SEC, the league where offense went to die.

I don't share your enthusiasm for OSU or the Big 10 in general, but I'm sure the cartel will do whatever it takes to make sure they and Bama meet for the Make Believe Title.

Guess so. Now the question is, can someone beat Ohio St. and Oregon so Bama can have a chance to get back in the NC picture.

We normally have a 1-loss highly-disputed Champion (I still hate the BCS, in case anyone forgot/didn't know). But I don't think they can get away with another misstep like LSU did a few years ago. Absolutely must win the SEC.

By the way,
was almost a brilliant prediction. No one was calling that one.

No one was predicting this upset because after the way Bama overcame adversity on the road at Arkansas to get a win, and the way they dominated Florida, most people know picking them to lose is dumb.

However, it's not a huge shock they lost this game. South Carolina has a very good team this year. They are a 4th quarter meltdown at Auburn away from being undefeated and a top 5 team right now. Stephen Garcia played a near perfect game, they had two weeks to prepare for this game, and executed the gameplan to near perfection.

I will admit I was wrong. After the South Carolina game and Arkansas game, Alabama is much more beatable this year than they were last year. Before, I thought Bama's offense was improved enough to kind of make it a wash between last year's team, but their defense took a few steps back today.

Alabama is much more beatable this year than they were last year. Before, I thought Bama's offense was improved enough to kind of make it a wash between last year's team, but their defense took a few steps back today.

Damn near the entire front 7 is new. They were bound to falter sooner or later. Arkansas really exposed them 2 weeks ago. They just didn't have the experience to keep them down